Handeling Priorities

Harsh BhattHarsh Bhatt
2 min read

As a Product Manager, few things keep me up at night like this question: How do I aggressively push a new product without cannibalizing the revenue of existing cash cows?

When Jio AirFiber—a slick, plug-and-play wireless broadband service—launched, my mission was clear: drive adoption through in-app promotions. The catch? The Jio app’s prime real estate was already occupied by money-makers like prepaid recharges and JioFiber ( here’s the catch: there was also doubt on adoption of AirFiber when JioFiber was already a known, high-performing option ).

Replacing them out for AirFiber ads meant risking revenue, but not promoting AirFiber meant missing growth targets. Ah, the classic PM dilemma.

The Problem: A High-Stakes Game of Digital Real Estate

  1. Limited Ad Space: The app’s most valuable spots were taken by profitable campaigns.

  2. Revenue Tradeoffs: Replacing them with AirFiber ads could mean losing serious $$$.

  3. Geo Constraints: AirFiber wasn’t available everywhere, so blasting ads nationwide was wasteful.

Key Challenge: How do I promote AirFiber hard where it matters, without blowing up our revenue goals?

The Strategy: Focus on getting Immediate feedback

We considered a few approaches:

  • Time-based rotations (AirFiber every 3rd session) → Too inconsistent.

  • Targeting heavy data usersNot enough correlation with availability.

  • Geo-targetingBingo. Show AirFiber only where it was live.

Execution:

  • Phase 1 (Pilot): Ran AirFiber ads in 9 cities (where AirFiber was launched in it’s Phase 1), replacing Less than 10% of existing promotions.

  • Phase 2 (Analyze): Tracked CTR, conversions, and revenue impact.

  • Phase 3 (Scale): Expanded to 20+ cities, using Phase 1 data to justify more ad space.

  • Fallback: Non-serviceable areas kept seeing the usual money-making promos.

The Results: Happy Stakeholders, Happy PM

  • 15% higher CTR for AirFiber ads (geo-targeting = relevance = wins).

  • <5% revenue drop from displaced campaigns (vs. a projected 20% if we went national).

  • 10% faster adoption of AirFiber as the free reach from the ad space (in Jio’s ecosystem) increased user awareness of the product rapidly.

Key Takeaways for Fellow PMs

💡 Geo-targeting is your friend – Prioritize without full displacement.
📊 Data de-risks scaling – Pilot first, expand later.
🤝 Stakeholder love = proof + patience – Show them the numbers, not just the vision.

So, next time you’re stuck between a new product launch and a revenue goal, remember: geo-fencing might just save your sanity (and your quarterly targets). 🚀


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Thoughts? Ever faced a similar tradeoff? Drop a comment (or just silently nod in PM solidarity).
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Harsh Bhatt
Harsh Bhatt